Notes

Write a note in this areID=MC190401716 Eng 505 Assignment no.2


Suppose you are an English teacher at secondary school level. What different types of learners you may come across in your second language classroom, and how would you deal with them? Elaborate your stance with Q1 logical arguments.
Answer:
No two teenagers are the same. Within all of our classes there tends to be not only a range of proficiency levels, but also general learning styles, maturity, motivation, and personalities. This diversity can bring some challenges, but also opportunities to vary your classroom activities and teaching methodology.
Sound familiar?
Here are some ways to help deal with mixed ability classes and ensure all your students experience success in their language learning journeys.
1. Invest time in getting to know your students
The first class with your secondary students is a great opportunity to get to know them personally. The quicker you build rapport, the easier your job will be. Take the time to ask questions about their strengths, weaknesses, interests and objectives.
A simple questionnaire can provide all the information you need to understand their individual needs and can also serve as a fun pair work activity or icebreaker after the holiday break.
Here are some example questions to get you started:
• Why are you learning English and how will it help you in the future?
• Do you prefer working individually, in pairs or in a larger group?
• What activities do you like doing in class? Role plays, making videos, using songs etc.
• What was the best thing about your previous English class? What didn’t you like about it?
• Have you taken any official exams before? Would you like to?
• How would you rank these skills in order of strongest to weakest: Grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, speaking, listening, writing, and reading.
• What things do you like to do outside of school?
• What topic would you choose if you had to talk about something for a minute in English?
Teenagers are social and curious creatures – make your needs analysis more interactive by having them interview each other and then writing a short report outlining what they discovered about their new classmate. Not only will you find out their interests and they’ll get to know each other – you’ll get a writing sample too!
By allowing the students to voice their ideas, you demonstrate that you are inclusive of different personalities and receptive to new teaching ideas. You’ll also know exactly what activities and themes your students will respond well to, and keep them motivated and focused on personal development.
Note that if your students’ English level is low, this kind of questionnaire will be more effective in their native language.
2. Personalize your aims and objectives
Now you have more of an idea about your learners’ strengths and weaknesses – vary your aims in each class to suit the needs of each individual. Start your lesson by explaining your main objective – for example, it could be “learning holiday vocabulary”. Then ask your students to set their own objectives – for example: “How many new words do you want to learn today? Their answers will act as their personal language aims.
As teacher and a person who understands his or her students well, you can also act as a motivator. If you think they are aiming too low, you can give them a much needed push, if they aim high you can praise their enthusiasm. But don’t forget to reassure them that it’s OK to have different aims and objectives, as everyone is different.
At the end of the class, have a quiz or game to assess their progress. If they exceed their own objectives, praise them. If they fail, acknowledge their efforts and show them how to succeed next time.
Reducing the pressure imposed on them in this way should keep them motivated and enjoying learning the language.
3. Allow students’ first language (L1)
Occasionally allowing L1 in monolingual classrooms is becoming more accepted in ELT nowadays, and this can be a great way to help in mixed ability groups.
Slower students in your class may benefit from access to dictionaries or online translators. This will help them complete certain activities and will also allow them to keep up with their faster classmates.
L1 also can be used to give weaker students the confidence to be able to express any doubts they may have accurately, and can really motivate the stronger ones to consolidate their understanding too.
Moreover, L1 can also be used more actively in class, in translation activities. For example:
• Students can work together to write a tourist phrasebook for visitors to their town or city. In this activity students must brainstorm around 15 phrases in their L1 that would be helpful for visitors, and then translate them to English. The activity could then be extended into a fun role play activity or used as part of a class on tourism and sightseeing.
• Students can write subtitles in English to a video clip that was originally in their L1 and even extend the script into a play or news story.
• Students can read a story, watch a video or do some research in their L1 and present their findings in L2.
Brining the L1 into activities can be fun and motivating, and will help save a lot of time in the planning and research stages. However, remember for many students you are their only source of English and the L1 should not be overused.
4. Vary tasks between individual, group, and pair work
Every classroom will have a range of personalities and this is especially true when it comes to teenagers. Some students will be more confident, while others will be shyer. Unfortunately, quieter students are often labeled as being less able – which is often not the case.
Giving your students the opportunity to do frequent pair or group work can help them feel less nervous as they won’t be speaking in front of an entire class. It also gives learners the opportunity to use more conversational language in English and be freer when speaking it, which is key to developing confidence in any new language.
What’s more, pair and group work allows students to take on roles and responsibilities, be more accountable for their actions, and experience success as a team. Teamwork can also help students develop different 21st century skills – such as collaboration, negotiation and creativity.
Depending on the task, learners can be paired with those who are a similar level to allow for fluent and comfortable exchanges, or in mixed ability groups to encourage peer teaching.
Effective factors: self -esteem, Attribution Theory, and self –Efficacy
The effective domain is primarily concern with the emotional state of a person. It can be the best understood in words of Oxford(1990,p.140), the affective side of the learner is probably one of the most important influences on language learning success or failure. Good language learners are often those who know how to control their emotions and attitudes about learning.’
Oxford (1990) further divided effective strategies as follows:
• Making positive statements
• Taking risk wisely
• Rewarding oneself
Met cognitive , affective and social strategies are the major groups of strategies dealing with affective factors.
Self-esteem has been defined by Beane, Lipka& Richard (1986,p.6) as’ the evolution one makes of the self –concept description, and more specifically, to the degree to which one is satisfied or dissatisfied with it, in whole or in part(…).’ Oxford (1990, P,141) states’ it (self-esteem) is a self-judgment of worth or value, based on feeling of efficacy, a sense of interacting effectively with one’s own environment.’
Language Attitude and Motivation
Attitudes to language are phenomena that cannot be observed directly but are demonstrated through actual behavior. It can effect the language proficiency based on two types, namely positive attitude and negative attitude.
1)positive attitudes towards self, the native language group., and the target language group enhance proficiency.
2) Negative attitudes may lead to decreased motivation, input and integration which can lead to unsuccessful attainment of proficiency.
Attitudes to language relies on level of learner’s motivation which has been defined by Gardner (19865) as ‘ a combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favorable attitudes towards LEARNING THE LANGUAGE . Another definition by slaving states that motivation is concerned with the factors that direct and energies the behavior …. Concepts of intrinsic motivation ‘were proposed by Deci (1975) as internally rewarding and externally reinforcing factors of motivation respectively.
WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE, INHIBITION, AND RISK TAKING
It has been observed that in the context of non-native speaker taking an imitative to communicate in the second language is a highly complex task. Willingness to communicate requires the communicative opportunity and encouragement to initiate communication in SLA context. The pyramid Model has been established that describes learners’ of L2. As the learners move up the pyramid, the learner has more control over the act of communicating in the target language. The models have six layers and , from top top to bottom, they are:
• Communication behavior
• Behavioral intention
• Situated antecedents
• Motivational propensities
• Affective- Cognitive context
• Social and individual context
Q2 Learning strategies are specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferrable to new situations. Write about the major types of learning strategies with suitable examples in real classroom context.
Answer: Oxford (1990) defines Learning strategies as specific actions taken by the learners to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable , more self-directed, more effective and more transferable to new (1985) considers language strategies as ‘ special thoughts or behaviors that learners use to help them comprehend, retain and /or use the information .’ According to Stern (19920, with language learning strategies, ‘learners engage in activities to achieve certain goals, …a choice of procedures ,… some form of long term planning.’
A Language strategy system was developed by Rebecca Oxford which consists of direct indirect strategies.
• Direct strategies involves use of language: these are sub-divided into memory (mnemonics), cognitive and compensation strategies.
Indirect strategies do not directly involve using the language, but support language learning (Ehrman&Oxford, 1990). These are further divided into met cognitive, affective, and social strategies (Lee 2010).
Demonstration of Direct strategies
Explanation
• Students were already familiar with concepts of implied main idea as well as major and minor details, as done in previous weeks. But this article was delivering new information; thus, students applied their existing knowledge to come up with correct answers. This displayed a use of meta-cognitive learning strategy.
• Based on this, students were asked to form an outline and write a paragraph on their understanding of the article. This helped students to develop a piece of work based on their existing knowledge and new knowledge by using cognitive learning strategy.
• In the third session, students were asked to form mnemonics in the form of abbreviation or images to memorize the content of the article.
• At the end of the activity, students were asked to give feedback about the use of these strategies.
• According to the students, it was very helpful for them to use their learned concepts on the article .This did not help them in working practically on class content but also in memorizing the important incidents in the article.
Indirect strategies
Oxford (1990) explained ‘indirect strategies as support and management system for language learning without directly involving the target language. Communicative competence is the key contribution of indirect strategies
Because the activities are designed and implemented to provide learning with real-life situation for developing communication competence. The indirect strategies consist of met cognitive strategies that help learners to regulate their cognition and to focus, plan, and evaluate their progress: affective strategies that develop self-confidence; social strategies that increase interaction and empathy in communication.
Demonstration of indirect strategies
Explanation
Four students were picked randomly and asked to pick another three students from class to form a group. Then, they were given a topic’ Revival of cricket in Pakistan’ and asked to generate points about the topic through group discussion. This is a use of ‘social Learning strategy’ in which students interact with each other and work on the assigned activity, based on grouped input.
• After this, students were asked to elect one member from group to give presentation in front of mirror.
• After presentations, their groups were asked to give feedback about overall presentation skills like posture, body language, eye contact, dress code, etc. According to students, eye contact was the major issue in all the presenters. This is an example of ‘affective Learning strategy’ where students developed self-confidence and positive attitude by getting feedback from their appreciated the positive feedback from their class fellows and showed constructive attitude towards learning.
• In the third part of the session, teacher gave demonstration to the students about the identified weak points in their presentation skills. This was a display of’ compensatory strategy’ in which the teacher helped to compensate for their limitations in knowledge regarding presentation skills.
As a teacher, one of your biggest challenges is to plan lessons that inspire your students to stay actively involved in the learning process.
But you’ve probably noticed that traditional, teacher-centered learning plans aren’t always conducive to achieving that inspiration.
That’s where active learning strategies come into play. You can use them to empower, engage, and stimulate a classroom by putting students at the center of the learning process.
Get inspired by these 8 strategies that will help students talk more openly, think more creatively and — ultimately — become more engaged in the process of learning.
Active Learning Strategies
1. Reciprocal questioning
Use reciprocal questioning to encourage an open dialogue in which students take on the role of the teacher and create their own questions about a topic, reading section, or lesson.
After covering a topic of your choice in class — or after assigning a reading selection — divide the class into pairs or small groups and have students come up with a few questions for discussion with the rest of the class.
To facilitate the process, you can provide students with “question stems,” which provide a foundation for a question but still require students to think critically about a lesson, text, or other section of material by completing the query. Consider the examples below.
Comprehension Question Stems Connector Question Stems
Describe x in your own words.
What does y mean?
Why is z important?
How could x be used to y? Explain how x and why z.
In what ways are x and y similar?
In what ways are x and y different?
How does x tie in with that we learned before?
Use these question stems to anchor and explore concepts in course material, helping students investigate a range of new topics and points of view associated with your lesson.
Much like student-generated test questions — a type of of experiential learning activity — reciprocal questioning involves students in the learning process to help build their comprehension of course material.
Reciprocal questioning can be particularly useful when:
• Preparing for tests or exams
• Introducing a new topic or section of course content
• Discussing reading or writing materials in greater detail
2. Three step interviews
A cooperative learning strategy, the three step interview encourages students to develop active listening skills by quizzing one another, sharing their thoughts, and taking notes.
To use the three step interview process, divide students into groups of three, and assign three roles: interviewer, interviewee, and note taker.
After also assigning a theme or topic of discussion, have students participate in a five to 10 minute interview to discuss what they found to be the key information relating to the topic.
After each interview, have students rotate roles. Depending on factors including the grade level of your students and their experience with the strategy, you may adjust the length of the time for each interview.
Before using the strategy, you may find it useful to have students explore the types of questions reporters ask in interviews and at what point in an interview they ask them. You may also want to provide recording sheets to use when they are assigned the “reporter” role.
The three-step interview confers benefits including:
• Helping students learn and apply different questioning strategies
• Strengthening students’ connection with course material in a creative and engaging way
• Producing a sense of accountability, with students working together to complete a task and grasp a lesson
• To use the pause procedure, arrange for pauses of two to three minutes between every 10 to 15 minutes of lecture time.
• During these brief breaks, encourage students to discuss or rework their notes in pairs to clarify key points covered, raise questions, and solve problems posed by the instructor.
• Alternatively, students can work together to write a paragraph that connects or highlights key ideas set out in their partner’s notes.
• A 2014 study concluded that breaking a lecture into brief pauses can increase student attention and learning outcomes. The pause procedure, the study determined, is “a good active learning strategy which helps students review their notes, reflect on them, discuss and explain the key ideas with their partners.”
of the pause procedure involves a minimal amount of extra time, but can confer significant benefits in comparison to lectures that continue without breaks. 4. The muddiest point technique The use
The muddiest point technique involves asking students to write notes on the most unclear or most confusing element of a given homework assignment, lecture, or class discussion. The Muddiest Point: Sample Phrasing
What have you found to be the muddiest point so far in this assignment? What topic do you find to be the least clear?
Asking students to write down what they find to be the least clear is a powerful exercise because it compels them to grade or rate their own knowledge of a topic.
In short, the exercise helps students reflect on the lesson and identify concepts needing further examination or study.
From your perspective, the activity can serve as an insightful source of feedback.
For example, if more than a quarter of the class mentions the same “muddiest point,” you may wish to schedule further time to discuss that topic, or create a new lesson plan or assignment to tackle it.

5. The devil’s advocate approach
The devil’s advocate approach asks one or more students to take the opposing side of a predominant argument or point of view being discussed during a lesson.
Once you have completed an assignment or lesson plan, select a topic that is suitable for discussion and debate. The topic should serve as an appropriate subject for providing arguments from both sides.
The activity is flexible and should be tailored to suit your students’ grade level. In its simplest form, divide the class into two sections and coordinate a class-wide debate based on a selected topic.
Alternatively, you may have students annotate reading texts and respond to contentions by creating counterarguments. Then, have students debate the proposals discussed during a mock town hall meeting.
While this approach can be used across a number of grade levels and subjects, consider this list of thematic claims used as primers for a devil’s advocate activity in a secondary ELA class.
Image source: Bespoke Classroom.
This approach can help cultivate active learning in the classroom by encouraging students to:
• Think more critically, challenging participants to expand their understanding of the perspectives surrounding an issue and to view it through a different lens
• Become more engaged, fostering involvement by drawing out opinions to explore the complexity of an issue being studied
• Produce deeper understanding of topics or issues, using rigorous analysis to collectively clarify, probe, and pose alternatives to problems being discussed
According to a study published in the Journal of Theory, Research and Action in Urban Education, the devil’s advocate approach can help students become “more familiar with a…topic and its multifaceted viewpoints.” The same study concludes that a classroom using this strategy can:
“[provide] students with multiple perspectives, and [challenge] students with tough questions. In such a classroom, students will become more engaged and students’ critical thinking and writing skills will be enriched.”





a. It's really easy to share with others. Click here ...